Tag Archives: Chaos

Venezuela opposition accuses security forces of robbing protesters

Venezuelan National Guard members take position while clashing with demonstrators rallying against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela June 6, 2017. REUTERS/Marco Bello

By Eyanir Chinea

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan opposition leaders on Tuesday accused security forces of assaulting and robbing demonstrators who participate in protests against President Nicolas Maduro.

Two videos distributed over social networks appear to show police and troops taking protesters’ possessions during rallies on Monday, spurring outrage among many Venezuelans who already complain of excessive use of force during the two months of protests.

Opposition legislators on Tuesday filed a complaint with the state prosecutors’ office against the police and the National Guard in relation to the alleged robberies.

Reuters could not independently verify the content of the videos. The Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“(Interior Minister) Nestor Reverol gives them license to steal,” said legislator Juan Matheus, adding that the complaint includes accusations of cruel and inhumane treatment.

One video shows four police officers surrounding a woman who is reeling from the effects of tear gas, with one of the officers pulling what appears to be a watch from her wrist.

In another, troops take a protester’s helmet and handbag before boarding motorcycles.

The government says it is fighting opposition “terrorist cells” trying to overthrow Maduro.

They say the effort is similar to a 2002 coup that briefly ousted late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, noting that protesters routinely disrupt traffic and damage public property while mounting barricades of burning debris.

Legislators said during Tuesday’s congressional session that they had registered 16 attacks against journalists on Monday alone, with some 300 during the two months of protest. Ruling Socialist Party legislators did not attend the congressional session.

Francisco Zambrano, a journalist with website Runrun.es which is critical of the government, said in a telephone interview that troops had blocked his way when he attempted to run from a cloud of tear gas fired to disperse demonstrators.

“I identified myself as a journalist, but they still opened my bag, threw my things to the ground and searched my pockets,” said Zambrano. “I thought it was a regular procedure until they took out my cell phone and one of them kept it.”

Information Minister Ernesto Villegas, asked on Monday about an incident involving troops throwing a television camera off a highway, said the National Guard as an institution was being unfairly held responsible for actions by individuals.

“I know and have worked with men and women of the National Guard, who are honorable and are out there risking their lives. They have also been the victim of aggression,” he said during a televised interview.

The protests have left some 65 people dead and thousands injured.

The government is preparing an election at the end of July for a constituent assembly that will have the power to rewrite the constitution and potential dissolve state institutions.

Maduro’s critics call it a power grab meant to keep him power indefinitely.

(Additional reporting by Andreina Aponte, Corina Pons and Deisy Buitrago; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Fourteen Venezuelan army officers jailed in first week of protests – documents

A demonstrator waves a Venezuela's flag while clashing with riot security forces during a rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela June 5, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

By Girish Gupta and Andrew Cawthorne

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s security forces arrested at least 14 army officers on suspicion of “rebellion” and “treason” in the first week of protests against President Nicolas Maduro’s government in early April, according to military documents obtained by Reuters.

The soldiers, who include colonels and captains, are being held in Ramo Verde prison in the hills outside Caracas, according to lists being circulated within the military.

The documents said their cases were being “processed”, and it was not clear if they had been formally charged.

The lists emerged after allegations by Venezuelan opposition leaders that a purge is underway within the military to quash dissent over the handling of massive demonstrations against the socialist government since early April.

The documents seen by Reuters only went up to April 8, after which opposition leaders and rights activists say many more soldiers have been rounded up.

The military’s National Guard unit has been at the forefront of policing the protests, using tear gas, water cannons, and rubber bullets against masked youths who hurl stones, Molotov cocktails and excrement against security lines.

At least 65 people have died, with victims including government and opposition supporters, bystanders and members of the security forces. Hundreds more have been injured.

Opposition leaders say there is increasing disquiet within the military over the use of force against protesters who are demanding general elections, foreign humanitarian aid and freedom for jailed activists.

In public, top military officers have backed Maduro’s accusation that an “armed insurrection” is being mounted by violent conspirators seeking a coup with U.S. backing.

But privately some National Guard members have complained of exhaustion and disillusionment.

ASYLUM REQUESTS

A few soldiers have gone public with their discontent.

Three lieutenants fled to Colombia and requested asylum last month, prompting the Venezuelan government to demand their extradition to face charges of coup plotting.

Opposition media last week published a video purporting to be a Venezuelan naval sergeant expressing his dissent and urging colleagues to disobey “abusive” and “corrupt” superiors.

“I reject Mr. Nicolas Maduro Moros as an illegitimate president and refuse to recognize his regime and dictatorial government,” Giomar Flores said in a seven-minute video, wearing a white naval uniform and black beret next to a Venezuelan flag.

Reuters could not confirm his case or whereabouts.

Neither the Information Ministry nor the Armed Forces responded to requests for information.

Late leader Hugo Chavez turned the military into a bastion of “Chavismo” after a short-lived coup against him in 2002.

Though Maduro, 54, does not hail from the army as Chavez did, he has kept ties strong, placing current or former soldiers in a third of ministerial posts, and giving them control over key sectors like food distribution.

Opposition leaders have been openly calling for the armed forces to disobey Maduro and side with their demands, but the top brass have repeatedly pledged loyalty.

(Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Brian Ellsworth and Jonathan Oatis)

Security guard kills Arab-Israeli protester in central Israel: police

A police car, burnt during clashes which erupted in the Arab town of Kafr Qassem, is seen at the entrance to the town in central Israel, early June 6, 2017. REUTERS/Tomer Appelbaum

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A security guard shot and killed an Arab-Israeli citizen as hundreds of protesters stormed a police station in central Israel overnight and set fire to vehicles, police said on Tuesday.

The violence erupted after police officers in the Arab town of Kafr Qassem attempted to apprehend a suspect wanted for questioning, spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

About 50 residents confronted the officers and hurled rocks at them, Rosenfeld added.

Hundreds of residents, some of them masked, later broke through the gates of the local police station and tried to enter the building, he said.

“The security guard at the police station felt his life was in danger and opened fire,” Rosenfeld said.

He said one of the protesters was critically wounded and died in hospital.

Television footage distributed by the police showed rocks strewn along the road and three vehicles on fire.

Kafr Qassem’s mayor, Adel Badir, said the guard had used excessive force. “I don’t understand how the security guard could say he felt his life was in danger if he had police officers with him,” Badir told Army Radio.

Badir said tensions with police have been high in recent weeks, because residents feel officers have been ignoring a rise in violent crime.

(Reporting by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Venezuela’s Maduro vows referendum, death toll from unrest hits 62

Demonstrators look on as motorcycles belonging to riot security forces are set on fire during a rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

By Diego Oré and Andrew Cawthorne

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro pledged on Thursday to hold a referendum on a new constitution he has proposed to try and quell two months of anti-government unrest that has killed at least 62 people.

His comments came after criticism from opponents and some within his own government that his plan to create a new super-body, known as a constituent assembly, to rewrite the national charter was anti-democratic.

Chief state prosecutor Luisa Ortega had said creating the assembly without a plebiscite, as happened in 1999 when Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chavez rewrote the constitution, threatened to “eliminate” democracy in Venezuela.

Maduro said on state television: “I shall propose it explicitly: the new constitution will go to a consultative referendum so it is the people who say whether they are in agreement or not with the new, strengthened constitution.”

There was no immediate reaction from Venezuela’s opposition, which now has majority support after years in the shadow of the ruling Socialist Party whose popularity has plunged during the OPEC nation’s brutal economic crisis.

Foes are likely to try and turn any referendum into a vote on Maduro himself. They have been calling for the next presidential election, slated for late 2018, to be brought forward.

The government has said elections for the new constituent assembly will be held in late July, although opposition leaders say the process is skewed to ensure a pro-Maduro majority.

There was no word on when the plebiscite would be held.

Earlier, authorities announced that gunmen had killed a judge involved in the sentencing of Venezuela’s best-known jailed political leader, Leopoldo Lopez.

The judge, 37-year-old Nelson Moncada, was shot and stripped of his belongings as he tried to get away from a street barricade on Wednesday night in Caracas’ El Paraiso district, the scene of regular clashes, the prosecutor’s office said.

This week has seen widespread violence around the Venezuelan capital, with security forces repeatedly breaking up marches by opposition supporters towards government offices downtown, and skirmishes continuing into the night.

“DEMOCRACY BEING ELIMINATED”

Protesters frequently block roads with trash and burning tires, sometimes asking passers-by for contributions towards a self-styled “Resistance” movement against Maduro.

El Paraiso has seen nightly clashes between demonstrators, pro-government gangs and National Guard soldiers.

The government said Moncada was one of the judges who ratified Lopez’s 14-year jail sentence, and suggested that might have been the motive for his killing.

“We cannot exclude the possibility this was done by hitmen hired by right-wing terrorists to keep creating and spreading terror,” Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said, referring to Venezuela’s opposition.

Victims from two months of unrest have included supporters on both sides, bystanders and members of the security forces.

The latest death came in Lara state, where 46-year-old Maria Rodriguez was shot during a demonstration on Thursday, the state prosecutor’s office said, without giving more details.

Maduro, 54, calls his opponents coup-mongers seeking his violent overthrow with U.S. support akin to the short-lived ouster of his predecessor Hugo Chavez in 2002.

Ortega, the chief prosecutor, launched a blistering attack on Maduro from the steps of the pro-government Supreme Court, criticizing its ruling this week endorsing the assembly plan.

“It seems that participative and protagonistic democracy, which cost Venezuelans so much (to get), is being eliminated,” said Ortega, who broke with Maduro a few weeks ago.

“This sentence is a backward step for human rights,” she added, before reading extracts from a past Chavez speech.

In further political drama, the Supreme Court ordered opposition leader Henrique Capriles on Thursday to avoid roadblocks in the Miranda state that he governs, or face jail.

Miranda includes part of the capital, Caracas, and the volatile towns of San Antonio de Los Altos and Los Teques, where anti-government street barricades have been common.

Capriles, a 44-year-old lawyer, narrowly lost a 2013 vote to Maduro after Chavez’s death from cancer and has been at the forefront of this year’s protests, calling for civil disobedience.

Authorities have already barred Capriles from running for new political posts for 15 years, over allegations of “administrative irregularities” that he denies, potentially hobbling another bid to run in 2018.

(Additional reporting by Andreina Aponte, Eyanir Chinea and Alexandra Ulmer; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Andrew Hay, Toni Reinhold and Paul Tait)

Mexico’s top diplomat says Venezuela is no longer a democracy

Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray delivers a message to the media after a meeting with Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and Mexico's and Mexico's Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo (not pictured) in Mexico City, Mexico, May 23, 2017. REUTERS/Ginnette Riquelme

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s top diplomat Luis Videgaray said on Tuesday that Venezuela is no longer a functioning democracy, one day before foreign ministers from across the Americas are due to meet to discuss the crisis gripping the South American country.

The comments mark one of the most aggressive critiques of the government of Venezuela’s socialist President Nicolas Maduro to date from Videgaray, the former finance minister and close confidant of President Enrique Pena Nieto.

“We have to call things by their name, and what we have here is a country that, in fact, has ceased to be a functional democracy and this is a tremendously dangerous thing for the region,” Videgaray said at the Americas Conference Series in Miami, Florida.

The conference was organized by the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald news organizations as a forum of international business and government leaders.

Videgaray has been sharply criticized by Maduro’s government but has nonetheless pledged to use all diplomatic channels to help reach a peaceful political solution to the bloody crisis in Venezuela.

Anti-government protests have intensified in Venezuela for two months and left nearly 60 people dead. The country is in a steep recession, with widespread shortages of food and medicine and skyrocketing inflation.

Maduro has said the protests are a violent effort to overthrow his government, and insists that the country is the victim of an “economic war” supported by Washington.

Asked at the forum if Venezuela is governed by a dictatorship, Videgaray said, “Well, I believe that, today, it is not a democracy and we are frankly seeing authoritarian actions,” citing as an example the use of military tribunals to try civilians.

He said the solution to “reestablish democracy” in the South American OPEC nation is in the hands of the Venezuelan people and the Maduro government.

Videgaray said he hoped that a Wednesday meeting in Washington, D.C., of foreign ministers from members of the Organization of American States could yield a resolution calling for elections in Venezuela, a restoration of the national assembly’s powers, and release of political prisoners.

(Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez; Writing by David Alire Garcia; Editing by Toni Reinhold)

Venezuela opposition leaders wounded in anti-government march

Riot security forces release jets of water from their water cannon on demonstrators during riots at a march to the state Ombudsman's office in Caracas, Venezuela May 29, 2017. The banner reads "The favorite Ron". REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

CARACAS (Reuters) – Two Venezuelan opposition leaders were wounded on Monday by security forces dispersing protests in the capital Caracas against President Nicolas Maduro, according to one of the leaders and an opposition legislator.

Maduro’s adversaries have for two months been blocking highways and setting up barricades in protests demanding he call early elections and address an increasingly severe economic crisis that has left millions struggling to get enough to eat.

Fifty-nine people have died in the often violent street melees, which Maduro calls an effort to overthrow his government.

“We were ambushed,” said two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, who accompanied protesters in an effort to march to the headquarter of the government ombudsman’s office but was blocked by security forces.

“This government is capable of killing or burning anything,” Capriles said in a press conference.

He said 16 others were injured in the march, adding that he would file a complaint about the issue with state prosecutors.

Legislator Jose Olivares, who is a doctor, tweeted a picture of a bruise on Capriles’ face that he said was the result of a soldier hitting him with a helmet during the clashes.

During the same march, opposition deputy Carlos Paparoni was knocked to the ground by a water cannon sprayed from a truck, requiring that he receive stitches in his head, Olivares said.

The Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Corina Pons, writing by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Andrew Hay)

Venezuela military defends protests role, backs Maduro congress

A firefighter walks past burned debris at the Ombudsman office in Maracaibo, Venezuela May 25, 2017. REUTERS/Isaac Urrutia

By Andrew Cawthorne

CARACAS (Reuters) – Decried by protesters as “murderers” defending a dictator, Venezuela’s military insisted on Thursday it was not taking sides in the national political turmoil, though it did back socialist President Nicolas Maduro’s controversial plan for a new congress.

The armed forces’ National Guard unit has played a pivotal role in two months of unrest rocking Venezuela, often blocking marches and using teargas and water cannons to fight youths hurling stones and Molotov cocktails.

At least 57 people have been killed, including one National Guard member and two policemen.

The military defended its record during the protests, in which Maduro opponents have staged daily demonstrations demanding elections, humanitarian aid to offset a brutal economic crisis, and freedom for jailed activists.

“The Bolivarian National Armed Forces have made a superlative effort to keep the peace, protect life as a fundamental right, and keep institutional stability,” it said in a statement.

The communique was a response to Chief State Prosecutor Luisa Ortega, who on Wednesday accused security forces of excessive force against protesters. She said one student was killed by a tear gas cannister fired from close range by a National Guard.

The military statement said Ortega’s “pre-qualification” and “hypothesis” were damaging to soldiers’ morale, and fodder for “the negative public opinion right-wing groups” want to spread.

The death of Juan Pernalete, 20, has become a rallying cry for protesters. But senior officials have suggested the student was killed by someone within opposition ranks using a pistol as a way to discredit the government.

The armed forces statement said officers had absolutely respected rights, behaved with “stoicism” and “sacrifice”, and had shown restraint under verbal and physical aggression including seven attacks on military installations.

“In no way are partisan positions adopted,” it added, noting that any “excesses” or “irregularities” were punished.

According to the government, 17 National Guard officers and seven policemen have been arrested over deaths during the protests.

STREET STRESS

Thursday’s statement backed the president’s plan to create a super-body, known as a Constituent Assembly, with powers to re-write the constitution and supersede other institutions in the oil-producing country.

Maduro accuses foes of seeking a coup with U.S. help and says the assembly is needed to bring peace. But opponents argue it is a ploy to stay in power by setting up a congress filled with government supporters.

Polls show the ruling Socialists would lose any conventional election, and the opposition’s main demand is to bring forward the 2018 presidential vote.

“The National Constituent Assembly … represents a space to find solutions to our problems with understanding, harmony and brotherhood,” the military said.

A key power-broker in the past, including during a short-lived 2002 coup against former leader Hugo Chavez, the military’s role is seen as crucial. Opposition leaders hope it may withdraw support for Maduro as the unrest drags on.

On the street, soldiers often stand impassive behind riot shields as protesters harangue them, or as women sometimes offer flowers. When crowds try to pass their security cordons, fighting starts and can last hours, with stones, excrement, bottles and petrol bombs thrown at them.

In private, some low-ranking National Guard members have admitted they are exhausted, fed up with being the first line against protesters, and suffering the same economic problems as much of the population.

“I’m shattered, brother. Do you think I want to be here?” said one National Guard member at a recent protest, briefly sitting on a wall after he and colleagues sent scores of protesters fleeing with a volley of tear gas cannisters.

Security forces are also finding that low salaries and opposition to Maduro are hurting their recruiting and retention efforts, sources in or close to the armed forces and police have told Reuters.

Opposition leaders say dozens of dissenting military members have been arrested in recent weeks, though there is no confirmation of that, and in public the armed forces’ leaders are standing firm behind the unpopular Maduro.

(Additional reporting by Andreina Aponte; Editing by Frances Kerry)

As Venezuela unrest spreads, Maduro presses on with plans to rewrite charter

Demonstrators stand near a truck as they use it as a barricade while clashing with riot security forces during a rally called by healthcare workers and opposition activists against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

By Alexandra Ulmer and Corina Pons

CARACAS (Reuters) – Faced with mounting unrest, Venezuela’s unpopular leftist President Nicolas Maduro vowed on Tuesday to push ahead in July with the formation of a “constituent assembly” to rewrite the constitution before regional elections in December.

The South American OPEC member has been racked by strife, with 55 people killed during unrest in the past two months as public anger boiled over due to an economic meltdown that has left many Venezuelans scrabbling to afford three meals a day.

In an apparent bid to show the government was seeking a democratic solution, the head of the pro-government electoral council said voting for a controversial “constituent assembly” would be held in late July.

Regional gubernatorial elections, meant to have been held last year, would take place on Dec. 10, he said.

The opposition reacted with fury, convinced that these moves were Maduro’s way of clinging to power.

Maduro’s rivals fear that a new constituent assembly could rewrite rules or exclude opposition parties, making a sham of future elections that would likely vanquish the ruling socialists if the polls were free and fair.

“Today’s decision is nothing more than an evil announcement meant to divide, distract, and confuse Venezuelans further,” said Congress president Julio Borges, the opposition leader whose coalition is pushing for early elections, humanitarian aid to alleviate food and medicine shortages, and freedom for jailed activists.

“Today we’ve entered a new stage and that means more struggle and more street action,” Borges said in a video on Tuesday night.

Riots and looting have raised risks that protests could spin out of control, given the widespread hunger, anger at Maduro and easy access to weapons in one of the world’s most violent countries.

A Supreme Court magistrate decried the planned assembly, saying it was “not the solution to the crisis” and called on Maduro to “think carefully” to avoid more bloodshed.

Maduro was undaunted on Tuesday, presenting the proposed 540-member “constituent assembly” as a way to defuse anti-government protests, which he says are part of a U.S.-backed conspiracy to overthrow “21st Century socialism.”

“Votes or bullets, what do the people want?” Maduro asked a crowd of red-shirted supporters waving Venezuelan flags at the Miraflores presidential palace.

“Let’s go to elections now!” he said, before detailing how the new assembly will be partially elected by votes at a municipal level and partially by different groups, including workers, farmers, students, and indigenous people.

In a telling sign of internal dissent, Venezuela’s state prosecutor warned that Maduro’s plan for a grassroots congress risked deepening the crisis.

“Persistent and increasingly violent unrest will eventually prompt key stakeholders to abandon Maduro and negotiate a rapid transition that sets a timetable for new elections; the precise timing is impossible to predict, however,” the Eurasia Group political consultancy said in a note to clients on Tuesday.

“DESPERATE PEOPLE”

Enraged by the economic crisis and perceived lack of democratic solutions, some Venezuelans have taken out their ire by publicly shaming government officials or knocking down statues of Hugo Chavez, the late firebrand leftist leader who governed Venezuela from 1999 to 2013.

In the southeastern city of Puerto Ordaz, the president of a state-run company was “kidnapped,” beaten up, and stripped naked by protesters, the government said.

In the lower middle-class Caracas neighborhood of El Paraiso, masked men on Monday night shot up an apartment building and parked cars in what one resident, who asked not to be named out of fear of reprisals, said was retaliation for barricades set up nearby by opposition sympathizers.

Hundreds of people have been injured in the violence, around 2,700 arrested, with 1,000 still behind bars, and 335 tried in military tribunals, according to rights groups.

Looting has become more frequent, with many Venezuelans reduced to surviving on basics like yucca or corn flour.

In the usually calm peninsula of Paraguana, a food warehouse was looted on Sunday night. Some 17 people were arrested.

“The rumors started that they were going to sell something, so everyone came out and started to beat on the warehouse door, there were a lot of desperate people, kids and pregnant women,” said a local resident, asking to remain anonymous.

“The neighbors knocked the door down, they destroyed everything, and made off with bags of flour and pasta. Police and National Guard had to ask for reinforcements, they threw tear gas and we heard shots.”

(Additional reporting by Mircely Guanipa, Brian Ellsworth, Cristian Veron, Eyanir Chinea, Andreina Aponte, Diego Ore, Maria Ramirez, and Andrew Cawthorne; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Andrew Hay & Simon Cameron-Moore)

Venezuela prosecutor decries Maduro plan, unrest worsens

Demonstrators hold a banner that reads "MEDICINE RIGHT NOW" during a rally called by health care workers and opposition activists against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela May 22, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

By Alexandra Ulmer and Maria Ramirez

CARACAS/PUERTO ORDAZ, Venezuela (Reuters) – Venezuela’s state prosecutor has panned unpopular President Nicolas Maduro’s plan to create a grassroots congress, deepening a rare public split among the ruling Socialists as the death toll from two months of unrest hit 51.

Chief State Prosecutor Luisa Ortega stunned the crisis-hit country in March when she lambasted the Supreme Court for annulling the powers of the opposition-led National Assembly.

Since then, she has been a wild card within the publicly homogenous Venezuelan government, whose foes accuse it of seeking to dodge elections by creating a parallel assembly with powers to rewrite the constitution.

Socialist Party official Elias Jaua, in charge of the “constituent assembly” project, confirmed on Monday that Ortega had written him to express her discontent in a letter that was previously leaked on social media.

“It is my imperative to explain the reasons for which I have decided not to participate in this activity,” Ortega’s two-page missive reads.

“Instead of bringing stability or generating a climate of peace, I think this will accelerate the crisis,” she said, mentioning it would heighten uncertainty and alter the “unbeatable” constitution launched under late leader Hugo Chavez.

Jaua acknowledged receipt of Ortega’s letter, but quickly said she was merely expressing a “political opinion,” without any power to change the situation.

“We consider that the only organ the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s constitution empowers to interpret the constitution is the Supreme Court’s constitutional chamber,” he said at a news conference, in reference to the pro-government top court.

Venezuelans are scrutinizing Maduro’s government and the armed forces for any cracks as protesters take to the streets daily to demand early elections, humanitarian aid to alleviate food and medicine shortages, and freedom for jailed activists.

While there are no outward signs of major fissures that would destabilize 18-years of ‘Chavista’ rule, demonstrators have been cheered by Ortega’s public dissent and by some public denunciations of officials by their relatives.

RISING DEATH TOLL

While anti-government protests have brought hundreds of thousands to the streets, Venezuelans are increasingly concerned about spates of nighttime looting and barricades popping up in many neighborhoods.

Masked youths man roadblocks, turning back traffic or asking motorists for a monetary “collaboration” to be allowed through.

The worst nighttime unrest has largely been concentrated outside the capital, however, with the jungle and savannah state of Bolivar hard-hit overnight.

Some 51 buses were burned after a group attacked a transport company in the city of Puerto Ordaz, the prosecutor’s office said on Monday. Barricades and clashes with the National Guard were also rippling through the city on Monday, according to a Reuters witness.

There also was trouble on Monday in Barinas, the rural state where Chavez was born and which is regarded by his supporters as the “cradle of the revolution.”

Mobs burned the headquarters of the Socialist Party in the state capital, and clashes and looting raged throughout the day, witnesses and authorities said.

Several opposition leaders have condemned the violence, but the episodes highlight the risks of protests spinning out of their control amid widespread anger at Maduro, hunger, and easy access to weapons in one of the world’s most violence countries.

Maduro accuses his opponents of an “armed insurrection,” backed by the United States, his ideological foe.

His government blames “fascist” protesters for looting and deaths in the unrest since early April.

The death toll increased to at least 51 people after a policeman, Jorge Escandon, died after being injured in Carabobo state and three people died in protests in Barinas, the prosecutor’s office said on Monday.

Hundreds of people also have been injured and more than 2,600 arrested, with about 1,000 still jailed, according to rights groups.

On Monday, opposition supporters and doctors in white robes tried to march to the Health Ministry in Caracas to demand access to proper treatment amid major shortages of medicines ranging from painkillers to chemotherapy drugs.

“Today, I’m not here as a lawmaker, I’m here marching for my sister who has a cerebral tumor, a tumor that is growing again and producing paralysis, a tumor for which Venezuela used to receive medicine and the injections for this not to happen,” said opposition lawmaker Miguel Pizarro.

“Today I walk for my brother, who is diabetic, and who, like my mom, can’t find medicine,” added Pizarro, part of a new generation of opposition leaders who have been at the forefront of protests and often been tear-gassed.

In a scene repeated over and over in recent weeks, security forces fired tear gas at demonstrators and clashes erupted with hooded youths who threw rocks.

(Additional reporting by Andreina Aponte, Eyanir Chinea, Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Toni Reinhold and Bill Trott)

Highland Venezuelan town blitzed by looting and protests

Manuel Fernandes, a local businessman, embraces a neighbour outside of his bread and cake shop after looters broke in, following days of protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in the city of Los Teques, near Caracas, Venezuela, May 19, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

By Andrew Cawthorne

LOS TEQUES, Venezuela (Reuters) – Like many Portuguese immigrants to Venezuela after World War Two, Manuel Fernandes spent a lifetime building a small business: his bread and cake shop in a highland town.

It took just one night for it to fall apart.

The first he knew of the destruction of his beloved “Bread Mansion” store on a main avenue of Los Teques was when looters triggered the alarm, resulting in a warning call to his cellphone at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

Fernandes was stuck at home due to barricades and protests that have become common in seven weeks of anti-government unrest in Venezuela. So he was forced to watch the disaster unfold via live security camera images.

“There were hundreds of people. They smashed the glass counters, the fridges. They took everything – ham, cheese, milk, cornflakes, equipment,” the 65-year-old said, as workmen secured the shop on Friday with thick metal plates.

“I’ve dedicated everything to this. My family depends on it,” said the distraught businessman, on a street where most neighboring stores were also ransacked in a frenzy of looting in Los Teques this week.

Unrest and protests against President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government since early April have caused at least 46 deaths plus hundreds of injuries and arrests.

They have also sparked widespread nighttime looting.

When a mob smashed its way into a bakery in El Valle, a working class neighborhood of Caracas, last month, 11 people died, eight of them electrocuted and three shot.

This week, Maduro’s government sent 2,000 troops to western Tachira state, where scores of businesses have been emptied.

In Los Teques, an hour’s drive into hills outside Caracas, locals spoke of up to half a dozen more deaths in looting and clashes this week between security forces and young protesters from a self-styled ‘Resistance’ movement.

There has been no official confirmation of those deaths.

Reuters journalists visiting the town on Friday had to negotiate permission from masked youths manning roadblocks and turning back traffic at the main entrances.

Mostly students, the young men said they had put academic work on hold and were determined to stay in the street until Maduro allowed a general election, the main demand of Venezuela’s opposition in the current political crisis.

‘NOTHING TO LOSE’

“We are from humble families. We have nothing to lose. I don’t even have enough for a bus fare or food. That tyrant Maduro has wrecked everything,” said Alfredo, 28, who stopped studying to man barricades and says he runs a unit of 23 “resistance” members.

Armed with homemade shields, stones and Molotov cocktails, the youths build barricades with branches, furniture and bags of trash, scrawling slogans like ‘No Surrender’ on nearby walls.

They turn back traffic and wait for the inevitable arrival of security forces. Some have scars and wounds from intense clashes this week.

Oil has been spread on the ground to deter armored vehicles used by the National Guard. Barbed wire is also used.

On Friday morning, one man walked up to the barricade with a woman in a wheelchair, and was granted special permission to pass. Some women, trying to visit relatives jailed in a nearby prison, also managed to talk their way through.

Mid-morning, some neighbors delivered arepas, a cornmeal flatbread that is Venezuela’s staple food, to the youths, offering them words of encouragement and thanks.

“You see, they all support us,” said Micky, covering his face with a red bandana at a barricade. “We are not coup-mongers like Maduro says. All we want is a general election.”

The 54-year-old president narrowly won election in 2013 to replace the late Hugo Chavez who died from cancer.

But without his predecessor’s charisma, popular touch and unprecedented oil revenues, Maduro has seen his popularity plunge as the economy nosedived, helping the opposition win majority support in the OPEC nation of 30 million people.

He accuses foes of an “armed insurrection,” with the support of the United States, and blames “fascist” protesters for all the deaths and destruction in Venezuela since April.

In Los Teques, however, youths at the barricades hotly deny any involvement in looting, pointing the finger instead at local pro-government neighborhood groups known as ‘colectivos.’

The unrest is exacerbating an already appalling economic crisis in Venezuela. There is widespread scarcity of food and medicines, inflation is making people poorer and hungrier, and standing for hours in shopping lines has become a norm for many.

“I’m closing. So the same people who did this to me now won’t have anywhere to buy their food,” said Fernandes, running his hands through his hair and surveying the once-bustling commercial street of now boarded-up shop fronts.

“Why are we all hurting and fighting each other?”

(Editing by Girish Gupta, Toni Reinhold)